Falafel Bites
These are quick and easy to whip up for lunch, with lots of leftovers to have in a wrap, over quinoa, or just on their own dipped in spicy harissa sauce. I fried them in a little oil, but you could bake them too to make them even healthier. Excellent source of protein from the chickpeas. Featured here with tomatoes from the garden, and cucumbers and lettuce from the farmer's market.
Ingredients
- 2 cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans
- 1 cup cilantro, torn up or roughly chopped
- 1/3 red onion, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp ground flax seed
- 4 tbsp flour - any kind will work if you want these GF, it's just to thicken the mix
- vegetable oil for frying
Directions
- Drain most of the liquid from the canned chickpeas. Blend in food processor until mostly smooth. It's ok to add a little water here if you dumped too much liquid down the drain, as I did.
- Mix blended chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Add more seasonings here to taste. Add more flour as needed to get a consistency that is easy to form into little balls, about 1-2 tbsp each.
- Heat oil in large pan, and press balls into patties with back of spatula. Fry until golden brown, flip, fry the other side.
- I got about 25 falafel patties from this, so some were enjoyed hot off the pan, but most will be reheated in our toaster oven for future snacking. Larger patties would be better if you wanted them in a bun, but I'm all about ease of flipping so the small size won.